Pandora's planet
by ObsessedRomantic
Summary: Sergeant Heretic presents an original trek tale in the old school style I hope y'all dig it. Please Read and Review. No reviews, no more chapters, get the picture?
1. Prologue

"Captain log: Stardate 45789.3.

"The U.S.S Enterprise has been dispatched to sector 377 of the Federation/ Klingon neutral zone to investigate reports of Klingon military vessels on our side of the disputed border. If they are here it would constitute a direct violation of the Organian Peace Treaty. Upon entering this sector and star system, we have discovered the fifth planet to have unusual energy readings. First Officer Spock is eager to investigate them as we take up station keeping in this location."

James Kirk turned from making his log entry to face his first officer and friend. Commander Spock, for his part arched a curious eyebrow at the human and asked,

"Eager, Captain?" Quirking a grin, Kirk answered,

"Yes, Mr. Spock, A feeling of anticipation, often characterized by-,"

"I am aware of the definition of the term, Captain I was simply perplexed as to its application toward myself." Captain Kirk chuckled and turned away from his first officer, rising to walk toward the turbolift.

"Don't worry, Spock, I am well aware that Vulcans are not subject to such emotions. Also for the record I am right there with you." Kirk turned to the Comm. officer and ordered,

"Lieutenant Commander, I would like Dr. McCoy, The Chief archaeologist and three landing force security officers to join us in the Shuttle bay. Commander Spock informs me that the Atmosphere is too highly charged to permit beaming. Helmsman, get us into a stable standing orbit around the planet.

The helmsman on duty, LT Hikaru Sulu placed the mammoth craft in high standard orbit of the star system's fifth planet, as ordered.

The Shuttlecraft Armstrong left the main shuttle bay and made an elliptical course toward the planet in question. As it did, a Klingon D-7 class main battle cruiser decloaked and came out of the shadow of the planet's moons.

Lt. Commander Uhura at conn brought the ship to red alert and attempted to hail the Captain, but the interference was too thick and she could not reach him.


	2. Introduction

Space

The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.


	3. First Act

Shuttlecraft Armstrong landed in a large park like area near the center of what was clearly an old, but advanced city.

The park and some of the structures were partially overgrown with vegetation, but other than that, they seemed undamaged.

The various buildings and towers had an almost sculpted elegance, as if they had been chipped and chiseled from fine jewels rather than built of mason and metal.

James Kirk looked around at the tall spires of the old urban center with not a small amount of surprise. It was clearly old and had been uninhabited for centuries, if not longer.

Just as definitively, it was obviously intact. The buildings and structures were not ruined or falling down. Not even to the extent they would normally be by dint of age and environment.

The security detachment fanned out in a three-point formation around the landing party and checked the immediate area by sight for trouble. Lt. Commander Carolynne Zoowicky, the exo-anthropologist looked around with a more educated eye and told the captain and first officer,

"Captain, we need to look in further to be sure, but I really doubt whatever happened here was any kind of disaster or apocalypse."

Commander Spock was dubious, but open to theories.

"What leads you to that conclusion, Mr. Zoowicky?"

Pointing her tricorder at one of the buildings and gesturing with her other hand, Zoowicky answered,

"No rubble, no evidence of any immediate or sudden catastrophe. I don't know why this planet is uninhabited, We have to look further for that, but the "End of days" it wasn't."

Spock ran his own tricorder near one of the nearer buildings and remarked,

"Mr. Zoowicky, your reference to mythical Armageddon stories is a bit misplaced, but well taken." Spock then spoke to the Captain saying,

"Captain, the Lt. Commander would seem to be correct. I can find no evidence of fossilized or calcified remains, such as would be evident in the case of a large scale disaster or event."

Striding toward and then into a structure that she guessed was some kind of 'city hall', Zoowicky Asked the Captain,

"Sir, Permission to search for records and data stores. I think we can find out what happened that way. As Kirk nodded his assent, but order her to,

"Keep in touch with your communicator, Mr. Zoowicky, you get into trouble, let us know."

Zoowicky nodded and answered,

"Aye, Sir."

Spock told him,

The power readings we detected from orbit would seem to be in this direction. "

Kirk followed his science officer in the direction opposite the 'records building.'

Carolynne Zoowicky was not an actual graduate of Starfleet academy. This placed her somewhat outside the 'Starfleet Fraternity' she graduated from Miskongis Bay University in Maine in North America as a Doctor of Exo- archeology.

Carolynne signed on as an Officer candidate in a Starfleet program to get more specialists into the fleet. After an 18-month orientation and training course, she was posted to the U.S.S. Humboldt where she rose from Lt. J.G. to Lt. Commander in three years. Her service record had earned her a spot on the U.S.S. Enterprise. It took long enough but she was finally, where her degree could do the most good.

One thing was for sure, standing in an alien 'city hall' looking for the cause of an 'empty house', Zoowicky was a long way from Bristow, Oklahoma.

Carolynne looked around at what seemed to be crystalline data storage of some kind. That was fine but where was the data interface. The means to read what was stored.

There was a bare minimum of pictography on the walls of the structure and what there was seemed to be of no help until she glanced deeper and saw similarities to other written text and Hieroglyphs on other planets.

She was just starting to get an idea when a Klingon disruptor became the next thing she saw. It was set to stun, but it would still hurt like hell. The swarthy Klingon fired wild as she dived but the disruptor beam still tagged her arm and made it go numb. The Four Klingons looked for her as she skulked around evading them.

Commander Spock was now in the sub surface power center he had located earlier and James Kirk was with him discussing what they were looking at. Spock continued scanning the main generator witch was bizarre in its smallness.

"Captain, I am detecting a very high level of available power being stored but from no know means of power generation known to Federation science. I theorise that it may be some kind of quantum or perhaps zero point energy."

The captain was about to respond when the communicator at his hip chirped and he took it up and opened it, answering,

"Kirk, here."

An oily, but familiar voice came from the device and Kirk got a cold angry feeling as he heard,

"Greetings, fair Captain. It has been a long time, has it not? You know, Kirk, it really is rather sloppy of you to let your unworldly academics wander about confusing themselves with real warriors."

Kirk answered determinedly,

Koloth, you're going to let Zoowicky go and face me like a man or I'm going to pull out your spine and show it to you, do you hear me, Koloth? Come out and fight like a man!"

Laughter came from the communicator as Kirk gritted his teeth.


	4. Second act

Lt. Commander Uhura had supervised the jury-rigging of the main communications to allow contact with the landing party. She was just preparing to give the order when the Klingon Cruiser moved out of the moon's shadow to face the Enterprise directly.

Sitting in the center chair the Captain pro tem put a steely eye on the main screen and ordered,

"Red Alert, all hands Mr. Sulu, Target the Klingon's main weapons and stand ready to fire at my order."

The Crew of professional star voyagers acted with dispatch and followed her orders by the numbers.

Lt. Janet Leslie, the Comm. officer of the moment turned to face the center seat and said,

"Sir, the Klingon Ship is hailing us." Uhura looked slightly smug as she answered,

"I thought they might, Mr. Leslie, put them on main Screen. Let's have a word with our erstwhile trespassers."

The Image of the Klingon battlewagon was replaced with the sight of a not-very-happy looking Klingon warrior in Commander's colors glowering out at the Enterprise bridge crew.

"You train weapons on us, Human? Do you want to incite war with us?"

Nyota Uhura assumed her best poker face as she rocked back leisurely in the Captain's chair and told the Klingon,

"Why, Commander, as per your ship's transgression into Federation space, we are already AT war. I'm just treating an enemy vessel appropriately."

Lt. Cmdr. Uhura heard the other man chuckle as he answered,

"Well well, it seems the Humans are made of sterner stuff than I had thought. I am not here to fight you, Human. We are here, simply to conduct reconnaissance of a potentially viable world. Not to fight."

Nyota leaned forward and replied skeptically,

"Sorry, Commander, no sale. If THAT was the case, we would have been told by the treaty authority about it. Since we weren't that tells me you're here on a good old-fashioned land grab. So why don't we cut the crap and get down to the slugging, unless you have other ideas".

The Commander fidgeted slightly and said,

"We have a,…party of troops on the surface. We have not been able to contact them. Our captain is among them."

"OK, that explains why you stuck around, but not why you showed up. Still, we can talk about that AFTER we've made contact with our people as well as yours."

"You have a plan, human?"

"I just might, at that. If you send over your communications specialist I can work with him and we can sort this all out."

The Klingon was dubious, and asked,

"You would work with your enemy."

"Only as far as it extends to our self interest."

While the two ships worked out the technical details of how to reach their respective landing parties, on the surface, Koloth and his men looked for the Archaeologist they were trying to capture. Carolynne Zoowicky was still at large, but had lost her communicator when she lunged away from the disruptor beam.

She found it in a corner of the room blasted to bits by the disruptor beam that should have killed her. Scrabbling at her utility belt and grabbing her phaser, the Lieutenant fumbled at the controls for a few seconds before managing to set it on grade two stun. As she did this, she asked herself in a disbelieving panic,

(What am I even doing here, I'm an archeologist, I look at ruins and I figure out who lived there and how, I'm no soldier, what am I supposed to do with Klingons these guys are psycho thrill killer fanatics, what, I couldn't have just stayed on the ship and looked at tricorder data?)

Her own mind filled in the answer,

(Because the best place to examine and evaluate artifacts is "In Situ" on the spot in the environment they are found in. Anything else risks degradation of the findings.)

That was why she joined Starfleet in the first place, so that she could be "Jenney-on-the-spot" to see and examine the latest and most arcane artifacts.

Up side, she was here on what was probably the most incredible thing she'd ever seen, down side was the gaggle of Klingons trying to kill her.


	5. Third act

James Tiberius Kirk had three pressing problems on his mind.

Problem one was his total inability to communicate with the Starship he commanded. His second difficulty was the missing specialist wandering on her own and possibly at the mercy of a Klingon Star captain who thought 'mercy' was French for 'thank you'. Winona Kirk's youngest boy was, in addition to those problems, vexed by the Klingon Imperial Strike force fully armed and ready to dance roaming around at the command of the aforementioned Koloth.

Happily Each problem had a solution, Captain Kirk merely had to think of one for each problem. Commander Spock saw Kirk's furrowed brow and submitted an idea of his own.

"Captain, I submit that if Captain Koloth is able to monitor and exploit our communications, then it is entirely possible for us to do the same to theirs."

"Spock if you tell me that you know how to do that, you just earned your pay for the month.:

"I know how to do that, Captain.:

"Fan-TAS-tic, Get to it, Spock.

"Aye, Sir."

Captain Kirk then turned to his three security Officers who were in truth essentially Starfleet Marines. They were Tactical Sergeant Clete Debrowski, Sergeant, Carlos Escoverro, and Corporal Bethany Buddusky. Kirk handed them their orders.

"Debrowski, Buddusky, Escoverro, get to the shuttle and break into the landing force supplies, then get over to that main building and turn it into our hard point, Commander Spock says that's where all the goodies are."

"Yes, sir,"

"Aye, Sir"

"Si, Si, Capitan."

Kirk slapped Escoverro on the shoulder and told them all,

"Alright, go do it killer"

The three gun bunnies rushed to follow their orders. While they did that Dr. McCoy Told Kirk,

"Zoowicky is on her own out there, but I've read her file, she's tougher than she thinks she is. She'll hit a wall, then she'll break through it and give Koloth a nasty surprise. I think our best move is to confront Koloth directly and give him more than one front when Zoowicky makes her move."

Kirk trusted his friend to know his business, and told him,

"O.K., if you say so, I buy that. That being the case I say once we have our hard point we get back in contact with the Enterprise and then I find Koloth and I put him in a hurt locker."

Spock chimed in ,

"Captain if I estimate Lieutenant Commander Uhura correctly I believe she is everting recontact with our party even as we speak. I have full confidence we will hear from her shortly."

"Spock I believe you're right."

The three officers then joined the three Starfleet Marines in the largest structure as it was the most defensible.


End file.
